Fatality reported in southern Alberta avalanche
KANANASKIS COUNTRY, AB – A climber from British Columbia is dead after being buried in an avalanche at a provincial park in southern Alberta on Saturday.
A report from Avalanche Canada says a pair of ice climbers had just finished ascending the Lone Ranger ice climb in Ranger Creek at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, and were starting their descent on foot from the base when they were struck by a wind-slab avalanche.
The report says they were swept into a gully on the slope below, and while one of them managed to dig their way out, the other was fully buried and didn’t survive.
RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff says Kananaskis Emergency Services received a report from a Garmin GPS about the slide along with word that people were in distress, and when they responded, they located a 26-year-old woman.